The present application relates to an electroconductive element (hereinafter referred to as “conductive element”) and a method for producing the same, a wiring element, an information input device, a display device, an electronic apparatus, and a master. More specifically, the present application relates to a conductive element in which a conductive pattern portion is formed on a surface of a base.
Hitherto, a method for forming a circuit pattern using photolithography has been widely used as a method for forming a conductive layer having a predetermined circuit pattern on an insulating base composed of glass, a plastic, or the like. In such a method for forming a circuit pattern, a step and repeat method or a method similar to the step and repeat method is commonly used. Specifically, in this method, a circuit pattern is formed through the steps of “metal layer coating”, “application of resist”, “exposure, “development”, “etching”, and “resist removal”. Thus, the method for forming a circuit pattern using photolithography has a low throughput.
In order to realize improvement in the throughput, a method for forming a circuit pattern using screen printing has been proposed. In this method for forming a circuit pattern using screen printing, a conductive layer having a predetermined circuit pattern is formed by applying, for example, a metal paste onto an insulating base through a mask using a squeegee, and then baking the metal paste. Since this method for forming a circuit pattern using screen printing provides a high throughput, applications of this method to various devices have been studied. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-266025 discloses a method for forming an electrode of a touch panel by using screen printing. Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-149807 discloses a method for forming an electrode of an image forming apparatus by using screen printing.
However, screen printing is disadvantageous in that, for example, a mask is expensive, mask alignment with high accuracy is a complicated operation, and openings formed in the mask are susceptible to clogging. Therefore, besides screen printing, a method for forming a circuit pattern, the method being capable of realizing a high throughput, has been desired.